John Piper v. Rob Bell:Battle for the Soul of Evangelical Christianity?

Rob Bell, a bestselling Christian author and founder of Mars Hill Church in Grand Rapids became a top trend on Twitter last week after Justin Taylor posted a blog article titled “Rob Bell: Universalist?” Taylor, vice president at Crossways International, a Christian educational non-profit, based his commentary on select chapters of Bell’s forthcoming bookLove Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived that were sent to him and on a promotional video produced to accompany this book’s release on March 29th. Those who picked up on Taylors’ post included bestselling author and Reformed pastor John Piper, who tweeted a succinct “Farewell, Rob Bell.”

The bulk of those generating the ensuing online buzz appear to have reached their conclusions regarding Bell’s book not based on the book itself, which few have actually had the chance to read, but on a position they’ve already taken in the ongoing battles between reformed and progressive (aka emergent) evangelicals. Bell’s detractors claim that he’s abandoned “biblical Christianity” and the belief that only Christians can enter heaven. Instead, he’s charged with adopting universalism, a concept which states that everyone will eventually be saved. In other words, critics claim, what’s at stake is nothing short of Bell’s soul and those of his followers and readers.

Rob Bell

It’s an argument — who gets into heaven? — that’s perennially transpired in the church since the time of the Christian theologian Origen (185–254 CE). (Don’t miss David Hayward’s cartoon at Naked Pastor!) That commenting evangelicals have embraced this fight as distinctly their own exposes this “controversy” as one contrived from an ahistorical understanding of Christianity.

Christianity Today summarizes the commentary and offers a critique from North Park University professor Scott McKnight regarding the timing of this particular battle:

I’ve not seen anything like it. And, yes, the quickness of social media have made this such a big issue … today … and in a week it will all be gone. Justin Taylor once generated almost 100 comments by quoting a blurb of mine that was on the back of IVP’s book by Tom Wright on Justification.

Justin may be right about what Rob believes, but if he is wrong then he owes Rob Bell a huge apology. I want to wait to see what Rob Bell says, read it for myself, and see what I think of it. Rob is tapping into what I think is the biggest issue facing evangelicalism today, and this fury shows that it just might be that big of an issue.

The publicity approach of HarperOne worked perfectly. They got huge publicity for a book. They intended to provoke — and they did it well. I think it is wiser to wait to see the real thing than to rely on publicity’s provocations. Justin bit, and so did many of his readers.

I have read the book, and I think the labels that have been thrown arround are unwarrented. However I won’t be holding my breath waiting for an apology from thoes slinging the mud, I’m sure they will find plenty to misconstrue in the book.
If you would like to see for yourself feel free to read quotes on my blog or just wait untill the 15th and read it for yourself.

Dylan – problem is that those marketing themselves as “heretics” are funded by some fairly conservative folks. They’re provocative for sure but do a bit of digging and it’s clear that men still run the US emergent/holy hipster show.

I find much food for thought in engaging with the apophatic tradition as well. I’ve been able to find this in pockets of the Episcopal Church that preaches a call for social justice that’s grounded in the traditions of the liturgy – see St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery for example. As you probably know, you’re seeing former evangelicals like Francis Schaeffer embrace orthodoxy.

Becky, it’s not unimportant in this that Bell’s infamous YouTube video is quite leading in the direction of embracing some sort of universalism, nor that his earlier work dips into the same sort of controversialism (e.g. the passage from Velvet Elvis about the Virgin Birth that came up in the, um, discussions). Bell is clearly reading people outside of the evangelical tradition, and his church website links over into Anglican material a lot (including, if one stretches the point a bit, Chesterton’s Orthodoxy, whom I think would have real problems with a lot of Bell’s key statements). But he doesn’t argue with the smart guys. In the case of the VB passage, he sets himself up in contrast to a creationist, and thus he washes right over the many, many mainliners who are aware of the translational issues of “almah” and all the other material and yet are still willing to say that it is vitally important to adhere to the doctrine.

The marketing of this is very much like that of John Shelby Spong’s books, and given how HarperCollins published both I have to wonder how much their marketing department is behind the controversialism. And in both cases there’s a strong element of “old wine in new bottles”. It is striking to me how many of the emergent guys are turning out to be evangelicals embodying old modernist ideas and theological methods.

C. Wingate – we’re in agreement here. Clearly, HarperOne knows how to market their material. I didn’t connect him to Spong mainly because the latter has been off my radar for a while as he hasn’t produced a best-seller for a while and they reach a different demographic. But you’re right – both men are masters at being provocative and controversial by taking old arguments and claiming them as their own revolutionary ideas.

A key difference though between Spong and Bell though was that Spong actually did ordain gays and lesbians – for all of Bell’s talk of inclusivity so far Mars Hill Church and the conferences he produces are headlined by white males who identify as straight. This is also true for the preaching line-up at Jay Bakker Revolution NYC church. In fact, look at those running the conferences, publishing books (all five emergent branded books out in 2011 are penned by white straight males) and it’s clear that progressive evangelicalism remains a boys’ club. (BTW-This factor is not present in the US Anglican emerging contexts where I’ve found those settings to be much more inclusive.)

Another point to consider re: US emergents are their funding streams. What is emergent about saying you’re employed by the Olson Foundation (run by a hedge fund manager), marketing yourself to appeal to the Calvin College crowd, charging upwards of $6,000 a day for personal appearances to talk about new forms of church, and so forth? Do the math and those funding the conferences and pushing the books and it’s clear that while progressive evangelicalism may present with a holy hipster facade, it’s still run by missional males.

It’s important to keep in mind that the goal of the video was to create interest in (and sell) Rob’s new book. Rob is provocative, he always has been. But he raises some interesting questions. An important step in clarifying your beliefs is to talk about and even defend them. So the fact that the publicity campaign for Rob Bell’s book has provided an impetus for Christians to actually do theology (to figure out what they think about God) is a positive thing. Even if you disagree with Bell, it’s important for Christians to wrestle with what they believe. Another great resource on heaven, what it’s like and who will be there is “Heaven Revealed” by Dr. Paul Enns, released this month by Moody Publishers. I recommend it. Here’s the amazon page: http://dld.bz/P8sz

I agree it’s important to discuss ‘actual’ theology – but that’s not what I see transpiring on the internet at all. Instead, people in the emergent/progressive and reformed camps have used this as an opportunity to sharpen their swords and slam the other. If Bell wanted a “serious” discussion, then he’d be debating his book on Monday night with Reformed megachurch pastor Tim Keller or someone else of his ilk. That exchange would distill exactly what Rob says he believes as someone who markets himself to progressive evangelical audience. (I make this distinction because this debate is considered old news to those Christians who identify with mainline and apophatic traditions.) Instead, he’s taking Qs from Lisa Miller/Newsweek.

What you’re seeing is a brilliant PR campaign that’s launched when one a vehicle(e.g., Snooki’s book or a movie staring Paulie Shore) that they know are duds. The strategy is to put up information “about” the vehicle that’s designed to build a buzz without offering trailers or book excerpts available for the public to review. Along those lines, the movie and book either isn’t available for the press to review or it’s shown to a very highly selective media pool that the publicist knows will create the kind of buzz they wish to generate. The intent in this campaign is to make as much money before people get a chance to actually see the product because then the negative buzz builds and product soon fades into oblivion.

In this case, I was told that review copies for Love Wins were being mailed this week to coincide with the release date of 3/15. Also, unlike Bell’s previous books, it doesn’t look like galleys were sent to outlets like Publishers Weekly who reviewed his previous offerings.

Jo says:

Mar 17, 2011

Is ANYONE involved in the conversation concerned with what the BIBLE says about any of this? It seems the conversation is about who is most popular or who sells the most books. The whole thing seems very “middle school-minded” to me. What a waste of time and distraction from what Christ would want us to be doing.

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Jeff says:

Mar 24, 2011

I second what Jo said! I’m more concerned about what God’s word says than Rob Bell or John Piper. We are missing it and it is really sad. I pray that we can move past this and make much of the Gospel of Jesus and not man’s books.

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Pal Smith says:

Apr 19, 2011

Who can give me one verse from the bible that says the soul is immortal. And or one verse that says the spirit is immortal. I’ll give you a hint! There are NONE!
If the widely heald belief that we have an immortal soul is true why isn’t there at least ONE verse that says so?
By the way the Hebrew and Greek words that are translated soul appear over 800 times, the same for spirit.
Not once does the bible say they are immortal. Can not die!
Be destroyed! Or any other words that mean the same thing!
To me that should be plenty of evindence to inspire Christians to reinvestgate the subject.

It takes great courage for Rob Bell to state what he believes, especially when it runs so contrary to a highly conservative evangelical religion that seems incappable of questioning it’s own beliefs. I think Rob Bell is following what his heart tells him to be true, not what years of religious indoctrination tells him. Isn’t that the great benefit of being human and imperfect?

ann says:

Sep 26, 2011

Hi Duane. What does it mean when we ascribe great courage to those spiritual/religious leaders who follow their heart? Isn’t that what faith means? To follow your heart?

Duane says:

Sep 26, 2011

Hi Ann. I hadn’t thought of it that way, but yes I think Rob Bell is doing what his faith (heart) tells him. I think if people searched their own hearts, there would be more Rob Bell’s in the world.